Growth
by SmurfKiller
Summary: [FIN & REV] Short story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell Tale Heart. When you hear that voice in the back of your head, are you insane, or is it maybe something like...Zerg?


"Growth"

By: Smurfkiller

_Author's Note:__ Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most respected authors of short fiction, horror, and mystery in the literary world. Inspired by his story "The Tell-Tale Heart," I offer this story to the Starcraft Universe._

_Edited 8/3/06._

_Disclaimer__: Starcraft, of course, belongs to Blizzard._

_Warning:__ Some images portrayed in this novel might not be suitable for younger readers._

_"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain..."_

Excerpt from "The Tell-tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe

My soul and mind are tainted with something black. It grows there, irremovable and untouched. It surges into my bones, like waves on a beach, leaving its decay inside my organs and flesh. Slowly, it consumes me...

It began on Chau Sara. They rushed into the Command Center, killing. Wolves, by their size, each sporting razors on their bodies. They romped, as if looking for bloody fun, slicing and mincing men into pieces that were unrecognizable...

_Loyalty..._

...they rampaged. My men and I shot at them, pistols at hand, bullets and men screaming in the air. Killed and killed and killed. Still, they engorged themselves on the flesh of men. We pistol-whipped the monsters once we ran out of bullets. A frantic marine, a tenderfoot, knocked me unconscious by accident. I collapsed and blackness followed, enveloping me in an aura of darkness. That was the last time I was myself. The last time I was whole...

_Kill..._

My body was left there, untouched by the killers of my men, as a Confederate search and rescue team arrived, finding me the only survivor out the carnage. Five hours later, I awoke, on life support, as the thrumming of the dropship's engines fill my ears, throbbing. Or _was_ it the engines that were pounding a heavy rhythm? Maybe it was my mind. My brain felt odd, as if the back of it had a contraption growing steadily, enlarging the mass. It was as if something had entered inside it, firmly embedding itself, and swelling the brain until my eyes bulged.

No, no, it can't be. No, there's nothing wrong with me.

But I feel _so _dirty, so..._tainted_. It throbs. The desire began. The desire to kill...it was not my own. Nor was it instinct. From who...

_Death..._

They needed qualified marine commanders to defend Tarsonis against the encroaching invaders, as they were in short supply. They chose me, assigning forty marines to my squad. I was, at all and any cost, defend a skirmish platform orbiting the world. Just me and my men. It was there I decided to kill. To cause as much pain as possible. To hear fresh screams and to seen new blood being shed. It was a thirst unquenchable.

_Sacrifice..._

I _grinned_ all along. My mind was _happy._ My men were scared. I _soothed _them into going. I _promised_ they would go home once they had cleared out the platform of any..._infestation._

Happily, they obeyed, following my lead. I grinned again. I lead them, into the creatures' territory, grinning...my face was tainted with a grin.

_Serve..._

Dying, the marines ran back, as skeletal beings with whiplash tales impaled them with scythes. They called for reinforcements. But more creatures appeared, from underground, reaping heads with cleaver-like arms. Harvesting a basketful of heads. More of the wolves ran on the ground, cheerfully feasting on my men's flesh as pieces flew...

_What was happening? I lost my grin, shouting furiously at the creatures to stop. These things were ruining my happy men. They only stared at me, looking with their glinting, ruby red eyes. Grinning, devilishly. They left me alone, leaving me on the ground with all the gore. I sobbed. What was happening? _

_Overmind..._

I lost my grin, shouting furiously at the creatures to stop. These things were ruining my happy men. They only stared at me, looking with their glinting, ruby red eyes. Grinning, devilishly. They left me alone, leaving me on the ground with all the gore. I sobbed.

Then _they_ came.

A dropship. Men jumped out, smiling, looking at the carnage and then at me, still smiling. They said they were going to help. I first complied, then I screamed, struggling as they bound me. They dragged me into the ship, docked at a port of the planet, and put me in this cell, dragging me along. Here I was. Am.

_I live only for the..._

Blood runs down my knuckles, as I punch the walls. Why? Why won't they leave me to my plans. They were _good _plans. Happy. Smiling. Nothing's wrong with me. I look at the mirror. Nothing's wrong with me. Slowly, the words that echoed in my head for the last few weeks repeated, until they all came together...

_Loyalty, kill, death, sacrifice, serve, Overmind...I live only for the...swarm._

A scream, shrill and deafening, echoes in the crevices of my mind. But the growth suppresses that scream from my throat, as my mind is jailed by the taint...for I am wretched. _I am Zerg. _

The two scientists in lab coats look on at the holocam as the man, bloodied, pounds his head, silent screams emanating from his mouth. But no sound would come. A spot stains the vidcam, crimson drop rolling slowly off the glass, leaving its filth.

Patiently, the woman adjusted her glasses.

"Infestation?"

"Looks like," the man replies, sighing.

"One out of four squadron commanders seem to be affected by this. The Zerg are going after every officer they can, controlling them, and using these guys to lead other men into ambushes."

"Infested Terrans. That's the name High Command is giving them. They say even a drop of blood can taint..." He looks at the vidcam, stain of blood still there. Shivering, he nods to the woman.

The woman turns to a marine. "Kill the patient. There's nothing we can do for him."

The marine complies silently.

_Spray._

Dark blood, black and tainted, drip off the concrete cell wall, running down to the hard floor, where the bloated corpse laid, eyes opened, mouth wide in a defiant scream of the infestation that was controlling it.

The woman closes her eyes. "At first glance, there's always something wrong. We can't tell it on the outside, but there's always something...rotting inside of them. We can't quite pinpoint it. It's like their minds aren't really their own, like brains start to rot and form into something new. It grows there, turning the men into...beasts."

The man nods again.

"A growth."


End file.
